


At What Cost

by branwen lavellan (Revasnaslan)



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, past relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2019-09-06 19:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16839337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revasnaslan/pseuds/branwen%20lavellan
Summary: “Ar lasa mala revas,” Cole said suddenly.You are free.





	At What Cost

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted from tumblr on dec 03 2018.

“ _Ar lasa mala revas_ ,” Cole said suddenly. _You are free_.

Voski stopped, looking over his shoulder curiously. Cole and Solas stood a couple of paces behind him and Branwen, and Solas looked slightly put off by what Cole had just said. Why would Cole…?

“ _You are so beautiful…_ ” Cole said next, and Branwen grabbed Voski’s wrist so tightly he had to bite his tongue to keep from letting out a pained sound. He looked at her, but she had frozen in place, staring at the ground with wide, shocked eyes. Voski looked back over to their companions, his own eyes widening in realization.

_Oh_.

“But then you turned away. Why?” Cole asked.

“I had no choice,” Solas responded.

Voski looked at Branwen again, but she stood rigid, refusing to turn around and look at the other party members. He now wished he hadn’t brought her along on this particular mission, but he had been concerned about her having been cooped up in Skyhold for the past few weeks. This was the only mission that would be heading out during the next two weeks, and he was busy with Inquisitor stuff the rest of the time. He could tell that being cooped up had been beginning to bug her. She had never been particularly happy at Skyhold even before she and Solas had broken up.

When Voski had invited her to accompany him, he had warned her that Solas would be joining them, as they were searching for elven artifacts in the Emerald Graves. She had insisted she could handle traveling with him so long as she shared a tent with Cole for the duration of the trip. Voski had given her that much at least, even if sharing a tent with Solas was awkward beyond belief. Perhaps bringing Cole along had been the bigger mistake though—without him around, there wouldn’t have been any thoughts being brought to the surface like this…

“She’s barefaced, embarrassed, and she doesn’t know… she thinks it’s because of her…” Cole said. Voski felt Branwen release his wrist, and he watched as she wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes. A few tears she had likely been willing to keep back rolled down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. Voski turned to glare at Solas then, and noticed that Solas’s expression had shifted from that apathetic mask he had been wearing so much recently. Now there was a mixture of guilt and sadness in its place as he looked over at Branwen, saw her shake as she tried to keep from sobbing. His eyebrows knit together and he made as if he was going to approach her and say something, raising a hand. Then, he caught himself as he thought better of it, and he let his hand fall back to his side as the mask returned.

Instead, he turned to look at Cole. “You cannot heal this, Cole,” he said, with an audible strain in his voice. “Please, let it go.”

Branwen snorted then, and turned to face them, glaring in spite of the tears. “No, let him keep going,” she hissed, “Maybe he can get a better answer from you than I did.”

“He hurts, an old pain from before, when everything sang the same. You’re real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything but it can’t! They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them…” Cole trailed off and then gasped, turning to Solas. “Where did it go?”

“I apologize, Cole. That is not a pain you can heal,” Solas said simply.

“ _Fine_. Keep you damn secrets,” Branwen said. Her anger had evaporated, and now she looked—and sounded—sad, tired even. “Voski… I’m going back to camp,” she stated. At a nod from him, she started back the way they came, shoving past Solas before he could step out of the way as she passed him and Cole. It was probably the meanest thing she was capable of doing to him at this point. Voski knew she didn’t have it in her to do anything worse to him, in spite of how angry and hurt she was.

“Branwen, I never meant to—” Solas began.

“To _what_ , Solas?” Branwen questioned, turning on her heel to meet his gaze. “You never _meant_ to take my _vallaslin_ and leave me _alone_ in a fucking clearing after breaking up with me? You never _meant_ to break my heart? You never _meant_ to hurt me? Because if that was your goal, you failed. Spectacularly.”

“But he didn’t _want_ to do that! He thinks he didn’t have a choice, that you can’t be involved! He knows you’d insist on helping him, because that’s what you do…” Cole spoke up.

“Cole, that’s enough,” Solas said.

“He still loves you, like you still love him. He really never meant to hurt you,” Cole added.

“ _Cole_ ,” Solas said, more firmly.

Branwen’s lips had formed a hard line and she crossed her arms, looking away as she tried to collect herself. “Tell me it meant nothing,” she said—no, pleaded—refusing to meet his gaze. For Voski, it was downright painful to watch her like this, having spent his entire life seeing her smile and joke around instead of _this_.

“You already know I cannot do that,” Solas said, “Please, _vhe_ —Branwen…”

“I don’t know anything because you refuse to tell me. What could you possibly be hiding that’s so bad you think I’d hate you for it?” Branwen questioned, voice cold. If Solas was going to answer her, she didn’t give him the chance. She turned and disappeared back down the path they had been following for the past hour or so.

Solas’s shoulders gave a slight slump as he sighed, but after a moment he collected himself and turned to continue traveling the way they had been going before Cole had started speaking. “Come, Inquisitor. The artifact is nearby,” he said stiffly. Voski hung back, letting Solas pass him and take the lead while he waited for Cole to catch up.

“But if they both still love each other… it seems so simple, but it’s not… I don’t understand,” Cole said.

“I don’t either, Cole,” Voski said, shaking his head. “I just hope they figure it out soon, or else I’ll be forced to take matters into my own hands.” He envisioned humiliation and various liquids stolen from the kitchens being dropped from the top of the rotunda onto Solas’s head, among other things.

“Branwen wouldn’t want you to do that to him,” Cole pointed out after a moment.

“Yeah,” Voski agreed, with a heavy sigh. “I know.”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: [revasnaslan](http://revasnaslan.tumblr.com/)  
> twitter: [revasnaslan](https://twitter.com/revasnaslan)


End file.
